Pallets are widely used for supporting articles above the ground and for transporting these article from place to place. Articles such as consumer goods and manufactured parts are typically stored and shipped on pallets as cargo or freight. These pallets are adapted for use with material handling equipment such as forklifts. Forklifts facilitate the transportation of articles placed on pallets from one location to another. To move a loaded pallet from place to place, the forklift is maneuvered to insert its forks into channels beneath the lower surface of the pallet. The forklift can raise the forks thereby lifting the pallet above the ground. Once the loaded pallet is above the ground, the forklift is able to transport and position the pallet in any desired location.
Most commercially available pallets are conventional hard pallets which are typically made of wood. These wooden pallets are cumbersome and are not easily moved or stacked without assistance. Alternatives to these wooden pallets such as light-weight pallets are known. The development of light-weight pallets made of plastic or other materials was brought about by the desire to make conventional pallets easier to handle. Aside from being substantially heavier than the light-weight pallets, conventional pallets are also difficult to return to their original owner once the articles have been delivered. Ideally, the accumulated empty pallets should be returned to the supplier or manufacturer for reuse. However, due to their physical size, empty conventional pallets still take up considerable amounts of space on their return trip. Therefore, collapsible pallets were developed to save space as well as weight.
An example of a collapsible pallet is shown in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,690,037, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Generally described, collapsible pallets according to that patent comprise a flexible platform affixed to rectangular support blocks. The platform is fabricated of a flexible but substantially inelastic material such as canvas or another kind of material having suitable strength and resistance to wear. This collapsible pallet has approximately the same length and width as a conventional wooden pallet. The support blocks are made of light-weight non-compressible material contained in a sleeve connected to the lower surface of the platform. The support blocks are displaced from one another defining a pair of parallel channels individually placed between adjacent support blocks. The channels are sized for receiving the lift forks of a lifting device such as a forklift. These collapsible pallets are made without nails or staples, making them particularly useful for storing and transporting articles such as beverage containers. Nails and staples often work themselves loose, and exposed nails and staples may pierce beverage containers on the bottom of a palletized load. Moreover, collapsible pallets weigh approximately half as much as conventional wooden pallets, are easier to handle, and allow more product to be moved for a given transportation cost.
Empty collapsible pallets are easily folded in order to collapse the pallet for storage and return shipment. To collapse these pallets once they have been emptied, the support blocks are stacked on top of one another. The loose portions of the platform may be eliminated by rotating the support blocks. A cluster of collapsed pallets is easily and inexpensively returned for reuse.
Manufacturers and suppliers palletize their products by placing their product on a pallet. The pallet may then be lifted with a forklift and placed in a cargo van, truck, train or any other mode of transportation suitable for cargo or freight. Alternatively, the pallet may be stored in a warehouse or bunker until being shipped at some later date. Consequently, an enormous supply of pallets is needed to meet the demands of manufacturers and suppliers who palletize their products for storage or shipment.
Presently, palletized articles are also placed on material handling equipment such as palletizing machines or sorting systems. For example, once a load of articles for a particular destination is palletized, the pallet may be placed on a conveyor to transport the pallet to the proper vehicle designated for that same destination. These pallet handling machines are primarily designed for use with conventional wooden pallets. Consequently, the transition to collapsible pallets has identified some inadequacies in collapsible pallets. These known collapsible pallets, when unfolded and placed on pallet handling equipment, may become hung-up or misaligned with respect to the drive rollers that move the pallet through the pallet handling machine. These hang-ups and misalignments are directly related to the nonrigid nature of such collapsible pallets. Except for the weight of a load on top of a collapsible pallet, there is no restraint preventing the support blocks from becoming misaligned when used with material handling equipment.
In response to the realized inadequacies of these earlier collapsible pallets and the preference of some pallet users not to modify existing forklifts for use with those collapsible pallets, it became clear there is a need for a collapsible pallet which is suitable for use with material handling equipment such as palletizing machines and sorting conveyors. This new collapsible pallet must have additional support to reinforce the collapsible pallet to facilitate pallet handling. What is needed is a collapsible pallet which has stiffeners to maintain the structural integrity of the collapsible pallet when used in conjunction with material handling equipment.